This invention relates to apparatus for severing a layer of fat from a Boston style pork shoulder butt.
In the processing of the Boston butt cut, it has heretofore been necessary to manually slice a layer of back fat from the cut to render it marketable. This operation has involved a packing house worker pulling a knife lengthwise along the back of the cut, removing a fat layer of uneven thickness so as to leave about a one-half inch thick layer of fat on the cut. The process is time-consuming and requires the services of a trained person. These workers are difficult to keep on the job, as it soon becomes monotonous to them. Therefore, there has been a long standing need for a machine capable of severing the excess fat in the manner which has previously been carried out manually.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,095, issued to Metro, has previously disclosed a machine for trimming fat from a pork loin. This machine involves mounting an arcuate knife on parallel, spaced guide rails. The loin is supported in the path of the knife by a bed. A clamping device fixes the loin firmly against the bed and the knife is then drawn along the guide rails through the cut to trim the excess fat. Once the drawing stroke is complete, the bed, which is hinged along one side, drops away and the cut falls onto a conveyor belt located beneath and is removed. This machine, however, cannot be used with a pork butt, due to the variation in thickness of the butt back fat and to the rounded configuration of the cut.